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2/05/2018

HERDSMEN ATTACKS: ‘TWO KILLED, 30 PRIMARY SCHOOLS SHUT IN OGUN’

Thirty primary schools and
several health centres have been closed in Ketu communities of Ketu Local
Council Development Area (LCDA) in Ogun State, following attacks by suspected
Fulani herdsmen in the last five months.

Also, two persons – Mr. Olabisi
Tangu Afolabi and Adegoke Olude – were reportedly killed and seven, including
four women, injured in attacks on Ketu villages by suspected herdsmen between
last December 10 and January 30.

In a statement yesterday in
Abeokuta, the capital, by leaders of the community, Mr Michael Abiose and Mr
Williams Olayode, the Ketu Advancement Forum (KAF), speaking for indigenes,
regretted that Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s administration has failed to protect
them.

Titled: Do Our Lives Matter to
Ogun State Government? over “repeated murder of Ketu people and destruction of
their means of livelihood by marauding Fulani herdsmen?” KAF noted that while
Ketu residents and the police were working together on the matter, the
residents could not remember any step the state government had taken to protect
the people and their means of livelihood from the attackers.

The forum wondered if their lives
mattered to the governor.

KAF said it remained resolute
that “there is no land for open grazing in Ketu LCDA,” adding that the herdsmen
have proved to be deadly and incapable of co-habiting with their host community
amid shortage of farmlands, since the government has allegedly taken the chunk
of their land for forest reserves.

The statement reads: “For us, as
Ketu people located in Ogun State by God, the present administration under
Governor Amosun, as the Chief Security Officer, has failed us.

“We (bear) great frustration and
agony in our hearts because neither the governor nor his officials has done
anything to rescue us from the renewed siege of Fulani herdsmen, who started
(attacks) on our communities in October, 2017.

“Without going into the
hostilities of over 15 years, all of which the state is well aware of, we like
to tell the world that most communities in Ketu Local Council Development Area
(LCDA) have come under renewed siege of Fulani herdsmen in the past five
months.

“Our farmers have been sent away
from their farms, over 30 primary schools have been shut down, health facilities
closed and economic activities paralysed.

“The climax of it started on
December 10, last year, when innocent aged women were attacked and macheted
in-between Moro and Eegelu villages for their refusal to submit themselves to
be raped by heartless herdsmen.

“Nine days after, on December 19,
last year, the marauding herdsmen were out on their evil mission again, killing
Mr. Olabisi Tangu Afolabi and setting his body ablaze at Oosada village. To add
sorrow to the Christmas celebrations, they struck again on December 25, last
tear, and murdered Mr. Adegoke Olude at Ogunba Ayetoro.

“However, with the active
collaboration of our vigilantes, three of the suspected killers, namely
Mohammed Bello (40), Muhammed Momoh (30) and Yisau Umoru (18), were arrested
and later paraded by Police Commissioner Ahmed Illyasu with an AK-47 rifle,
pieces of 0.8mm live ammunition, 26 live cartridges and two sharp cutlasses,
all recovered from them.

“The world may also wish to note
that three days after a stakeholders’ meeting convened by Ketu LCDA on January
25, at the instance of the police commissioner and Ketu Advancement Forum
(KAF), which was attended by herdsmen, the herdsmen broke loose again into our
farms, hewing down palm and teak trees for their herds to graze on.

“Surprisingly, when the residents
inspected the damage done to their farms, the herders again opened fire on them
and many residents sustained gunshots wounds of varying degree. This incident
was well documented at the Police Area Command Office at Ilaro.

“While the residents and the
police are working together on the matter, there is nowhere that we, the people
at the centre of the assault, have come in contact with what the state
government is doing to protect us, no matter how little.“And Yoruba elders, in
their wisdom, say you cannot shave somebody’s head without his consent and
without his knowledge.

“Presently, the atmosphere is
charged as areas, like Ikotun, Ologiri, Akeru, Ilukan, Ijege and Ajibode have
continued to come under the influx of herds.

“Therefore, the governor can no
longer continue to turn a blind eye and deaf ears to the tense situation. We
insist that there is no land for open grazing in our LCDA…”

But the state government said it
had taken measures to avert clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

The government also said it had
put measures in place to ensure that lives and property in the state are safer.

According to the government, it
has met with leaders of various interest groups, including the Fulani, the
Hausa and Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, in Abeokuta.

The meeting, it was learnt, was
attended by heads of security agencies, such as the Army, the Department of
State Services (DSS), the police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence
Corps (NSCDC).

A statement by the Secretary to
the State Government (SSG), Taiwo Adeoluwa, said Ogun is one of the most
peaceful states in the country, despite being home to diverse tribes, cultures
and religions.

The government said it was not
unaware of the security challenges in the land and that it was doing all within
its powers to prevent a breach of the peace.

It urged interest groups in the
state to always imbibe the spirit of oneness, adding that their businesses can
only thrive in an atmosphere of peace.

The statement added:
“Herdsmen/farmers’ clashes are everywhere. We should cooperate to prevent such
here. We all have a common interest and that is, there should be continued
peace in Ogun State. You should all take this message of peace to your people back
home.”

Also, police spokesman Abimbola
Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), told The Nation that the
police hold regular meetings with farmers and indigenous herdsmen to ensure
that peace reigns in Ogun State.

Oyeyemi said indigenous herdsmen
were not giving farmers any headache.

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